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Mercenaries/Session 2F
20:03 <~abudhabi> Last time, you were called to arms against the Neumann Economic Collective, collected the AI from impounding on Frenzie, and failed repeatedly to sell your robots. 20:05 <&Arthur> We shall stop failing soon. 20:05 < Vittorio> we hope 20:05 <~abudhabi> You arrive in Ficant. Binary system, no gas giants, and a tiny, barely industrial colony. 20:06 <&Arthur> And liquid water! We'll need some of that. 20:07 <~abudhabi> Its location on the Imperial-Zhodani frontier and not being part of any official routes probably explain why more people haven't moved on this otherwise quite pleasant world. 20:08 <~abudhabi> There's no real spaceport, either. No ships. Just a beacon. 20:08 < Vittorio> "Are we purchasing fuel here or just planning on refining water?" 20:11 <&Arthur> "There's no starport to buy fuel from." 20:11 < Vittorio> "Oh... ok. I'll set it down and get pumping then" 20:13 <~abudhabi> You set down on the small planet, landing in the watery center of a gigantic bog - the likes of which seem to cover most of the world. 20:16 * Arthur has absolutely nothing to do here. 20:16 * Vittorio takes the ship up up and away and gets us to the limit 20:17 <~abudhabi> Very well. Lucas: You know what to do! 20:18 < Lucas> !2d6+2+1+2: Charging 20:18 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "Charging": (4+6)+2+1+2. Total: 15. 20:19 <~abudhabi> You slip into jumpspace and are away. A week later you arrive at...? 20:20 <&Arthur> Lanth. 20:20 <&Arthur> That'll be a quick fuel stop as well. Next stop's Rabwhar. After that, Tenalphi. 20:21 < Vittorio> ((refined fuel available at all those places?)) 20:21 <~abudhabi> Another binary system, of which there are a lot. This one is a subsector capital, and given that, there are plenty of ships here. Less than expected, really. There is only a skeleton crew of warships around here, fro some reason. 20:21 <&Arthur> (It is in Lanth) 20:21 * Vittorio purchases fuel then 20:21 <&Arthur> (Not at Rabwhar though. And the law means we'll probably have to buy unrefined there.) 20:22 <&Arthur> (Tenalphi has refined and we'll need to stop for maintenance there) 20:23 <~abudhabi> Lanth happens to be on an X-boat route. You are seven weeks closer, information-wise, to the events at hand! Dogen gives you the summary. 20:23 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "The NEC fully controls Gazulin and is contesting Trin's Veil and Vestus." 20:25 <&Arthur> "That's a lot of territory. Any intel on what ships they're flying or where this originated from?" 20:26 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "Through unclear means, they were able to subvert several naval and military bases in the initial revolt. They're flying almost exclusively Imperial craft. According to our spotty intel, they're operating from Neumann." 20:27 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "Neumann's best known for the time that gray goo almost ate it." 20:27 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "No idea what happened there, but it might be related." 20:28 <~abudhabi> Buying or selling anything but fuel? 20:29 < Vittorio> nope 20:29 < Vittorio> I'm just going to wait till we get somewhere that absolutely will buy this stuff rather than breaking my heart trying to get the correct roll 20:29 <&Arthur> It'll mean a bigger profit too 20:30 <~abudhabi> Very well. Gonna roll to divert power, Lucas? 20:30 < Lucas> Yup 20:30 < Lucas> !2d6+2+1+2: Keep rollin' 20:30 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "Keep rollin'": (1+2)+2+1+2. Total: 8. 20:31 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6 20:31 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "2d6": (5+4). Total: 9. 20:31 <~abudhabi> Where to? 20:32 <&Arthur> Rabwhar, Tenalphi. 20:34 <~abudhabi> Welcome to the (Petty) Kingdom of Rabwhar! A unary system, with a sorta habitable planet. 20:34 <~abudhabi> Three gas giants, but you probably want to dock at the poor spaceport available. 20:35 * Vittorio will buy unrefined fuel at the spaceport 20:35 <~abudhabi> Also doing maintenance? 20:35 <~abudhabi> Or next stop? 20:36 < Vittorio> (good idea, and mortguage payments I guess) 20:36 <&Arthur> (That should be next week) 20:36 < Vittorio> (Actually, next stop would be the month so maintenance next week) 20:37 * Vittorio to the limit, and to jump 20:37 < Lucas> !2d6+2+1+2: Keep rollin'rollin'rollin'rollin' 20:37 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "Keep rollin'rollin'rollin'rollin'": (1+1)+2+1+2. Total: 7. 20:37 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6-1: They see you rollin', they hatin' 20:37 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "They see you rollin', they hatin'": (6+5)-1. Total: 10. 20:39 <~abudhabi> Welcome to Tenalphi! A tainted, high-tech world. Fortunately, potatoes and wheat don't mind the atmospheric taint! 20:40 <&Arthur> I bet they use a lot of agricultural robots. 20:40 < Vittorio> "Hurrah, maybe they'll buy robots to tend those fields!" 20:40 * Vittorio will look for a broker when we land 20:40 <&Arthur> "That was my hope. We'll need maintenance too, so you've got some time." 20:41 <~abudhabi> You've got like 1d6 days while maintenance is carried out. 20:41 < Vittorio> !2d6+2+6 : Find a broker 20:41 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Find a broker": (1+3)+2+6. Total: 12. 20:42 < Vittorio> !r3d6+2+2 : Sale price 20:42 < Vittorio> !3d6+2+2 : Sale price 20:42 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Sale price": (1+6+5)+2+2. Total: 16. 20:42 * Vittorio sells the damned robots for 135% 20:43 <~abudhabi> Tenalphi happens to be on an x-boat route too! 20:44 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Roll Edu + Computers. 20:44 <&Arthur> !2d6-2+1: Edu+Computers? 20:44 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "Edu+Computers?": (3+5)-2+1. Total: 7. 20:44 * Arthur is not good with computers 20:45 * Vittorio pays for maintenance and the mortguage 20:47 <~abudhabi> Arthur: You get mail (long-overdue) via the ship's mailbox. It's an update on your pension scheme. There's also mail for a 'Mbesehro Nyasazehnd Zelihnd' and a 'Natsu Doragoniru', but seeing as everything is encrypted, you don't know more than that. 20:49 * Arthur gets Natsu's mail to Natsu and scratches his head over the former name. 20:49 <&Arthur> "Vittorio, do you know any ?" 20:50 <~abudhabi> Vittorio: It's Ziggy's real name. 20:50 <~abudhabi> You should know. You handled her employment contract. 20:50 <~abudhabi> Vittorio: Also, roll Edu + Computers. 20:52 < Vittorio> !2d6-1 : Edu computers 20:52 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Edu computers": (6+1)-1. Total: 6. 20:52 <~abudhabi> Vittorio: Nothing to see here, carry on. 20:53 < Vittorio> "Its Ziggy and Natsu - bet you its Near - maybe we should get the techie to look at this" 20:53 <&Arthur> "That's Ziggy's real name?" 20:53 <&Arthur> "I suppose we should." 20:54 < Vittorio> "Was, the verb you need is was" 20:54 <&Arthur> "LUCAS!" 20:54 < Lucas> "WHAT?" 20:55 <&Arthur> "We need someone to check a few things here with the computer." 20:55 < Lucas> "Have you checked if it's plugged in?" 20:56 <&Arthur> "It's working. We need someone to check there's no trouble." 20:56 < Lucas> "...That was a joke. What do you want me to do?" 20:56 < Vittorio> "We need you to break a personal encription on the mail" 20:57 <&Arthur> "And make sure there's nothing hidden in there that might cause more computer problems." 20:57 < Lucas> "Whos?" 20:57 < Vittorio> "I'm guessing its Near - did you meet her. Messages are for Natsu and Ziggy" 20:58 <&Arthur> "Nah, we brought him on after we dropped Near off." 20:58 < Lucas> "Are you sure you want to break into Natsus mail? I can understand Ziggy, but..." 20:58 < Vittorio> "He won't mind this one - trust me" 20:59 < Lucas> "If he asks, you made me do it. Let me try this then." 21:00 < Lucas> !2d6+1+1:Trying to break into a mail 21:00 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "Trying to break into a mail": (6+6)+1+1. Total: 14. 21:01 < Vittorio> "... wait a second - how did this mail find us, we're using different names, different transponder..." 21:01 <&Arthur> "Well there's an excellent question. I'm going to find our guest." 21:01 * Arthur heads down to find Dogen 21:02 <~abudhabi> Lucas: You realize that present-day encryption is meant to defeat decryption with present-day measures. Such is the case here. There's something you also realize - the folks who did the on-board refit were not thorough enough. The ship's automated mailbox still has your original encryption signatures, and automatically negotiated the local mail buoy to transmit these messages. 21:02 <~abudhabi> Lucas: Absent TL 16-ish equipment, or a miracle, you basically can't decrypt these. 21:03 < Lucas> "Well. Hm." 21:03 < Lucas> @Arthur?@ 21:03 <~abudhabi> Arthur: He's in the common room. "What's up?" 21:03 <&Arthur> @Yeah.@ 21:03 <&Arthur> "We might have a problem. We just recieved mail. Ziggy and Natsu." 21:04 <&Arthur> *For 21:04 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "And?" 21:04 <&Arthur> "We just recieved mail for a ship that no longer exists for people that are incarcerated on a far off planet." 21:04 < Lucas> @I can tell you with absolute certainty that this encryption is not doable with onboard means.@ 21:05 < Vittorio> "Lucas - do you know if the station logs that the mail was picked up here?" 21:05 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "That's unfortunate. How?" 21:05 <&Arthur> "Lucas might be able to tell you, I left before he finished." 21:06 < Lucas> @Also, I think I know how we got that.@ 21:06 <~abudhabi> Lucas: Very probably. But unless someone reviews those logs, they're probably just going to sit there. 21:06 <&Arthur> "Best case, we just left a breadcrumb. Worst case, we've been leaving breadcrumbs all along our damned route." 21:07 < Lucas> "It probably does. But those logs would probably have to be checked manually to notice." 21:07 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "Can you stop us leaving breadcrumbs?" 21:07 <&Arthur> "Lucas might be able to, but we might need some technical assistance. The bigger problem is if we've been leaving breadcrumbs we need to see about cleaning that up." 21:08 <&Arthur> @Lucas, how did we get that and can you fix it?@ 21:08 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "You're going to ask me to pull strings, aren't you?" 21:09 <&Arthur> "We're still well outside my usual place of business, so yeah, I'm hoping you've got strings to pull." 21:09 < Lucas> @Of everything that was switched during the refit, the mail encryption signatures was not part of it. We've been loggin on with the old ones.@ 21:10 * Vittorio swears under his breath about Imperial Beurocratic incompetence 21:10 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "I'll see what I can do... as long as I'm told exactly what happened." 21:10 <&Arthur> "Let's head up to the bridge and Lucas can explain." 21:10 <~abudhabi> Lucas: You can easily delete the encryption signatures, generate new encryption keys, and reconfigure the mailbox. Won't take half an hour. 21:11 <~abudhabi> Dogen gets up and follows Arthur. 21:11 * Arthur heads back to the bridge 21:11 <&Arthur> "Lucas, can you explain again what went wrong?" 21:12 < Lucas> "Sure." 21:12 * Lucas explains the issue with the mail encryption and the possible solution 21:13 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "OK. Sounds like I just need to wave my ID at some sysadmin." 21:13 <&Arthur> "And maybe send a message back up the chain to check Lanth and Frenzie for breadcrumbs." 21:14 <~abudhabi> "I'll see what I can do." Dogen ventures outside, to the highport. 21:16 < Lucas> "Right.I'm gonna see about those new keys, then?" 21:16 <~abudhabi> !roll 1d6: Days due to maintenance 21:16 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "Days due to maintenance": (2). Total: 2. 21:17 <&Arthur> "Please do." 21:18 * Lucas shuts down the old mail keys and gets new ones 21:18 <~abudhabi> Lucas: You make the necessary adjustments. The old keys are stored for safe keeping. 21:19 <~abudhabi> !roll 1d6 21:19 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "1d6": (4). Total: 4. 21:19 <~abudhabi> Four hours later, Dogen returns. "Good news, bad news. Which do you want first?" 21:19 <&Arthur> "Start with the bad." 21:20 <~abudhabi> "The x-boat with the delivery report already left for Shirene." 21:21 <&Arthur> "That the wrong direction. We can intercept it at Persephone. Can you arrange someone with a jump two to intercept it at adabicci? Or was that the good news?" 21:22 <~abudhabi> "I've already issued an intercept request." 21:23 <~abudhabi> "The good news is that we've not been leaving breadcrumbs until now. It is not customary to log anything unless a given message actually matches a recipient. Since we've not received mail on our way here, we're clean." 21:24 <&Arthur> "Good. That means that even if that delivery reports makes it to Near, there'll be nothing here to link it to our new identities and the authorities can blame it on a computer bug." 21:24 < Vittorio> "Near is smart - and will be looking for her mother - I hope you're right on that and she won't take it into her mind to investigate what has happened" 21:27 <&Arthur> "Well, we've done what we can to stop it causing trouble. If it does, we may need to disappear again." 21:28 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "Anyway. In more important news. I've been mulling over the dispatches from the front. We're only three weeks out from it - fighting was reported at Ffudn an Bendor." 21:31 <&Arthur> "Hmm. Bendor's on the route I was planning. We'll want to detour." 21:31 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "News aren't encouraging. The Imperial and local fleets have so far failed to halt the NEC advance, and we don't know why." 21:33 < Vittorio> "any survivors?" 21:34 <&Arthur> "I figure we can slip past through Crout, Burtson, Pyramus, do maintenance at Labora." 21:34 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "Plenty, I'm told. Trouble is, they now fight for the enemy." 21:34 <&Arthur> "From there we got two options to get to Neumann, we'll see how the situation looks at Labora." 21:37 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "What exactly is your plan, Arthur?" 21:38 <&Arthur> "We have neither the manpower nor the firepower to take on that fleet, so our best chance is to go deep, straight to Neumann if we have to." 21:39 <&Arthur> "Find out what's causing this mess. If it's just an uprising, we'll be in a position to destabilise their chain of command on Neumann before bugging out." 21:39 <&Arthur> "If it's AI related, we may be able to cut it off completely at Neumann." 21:39 <&Arthur> "If it's a grey goo scenario, we'll probably hit it before then and we will get the fuck out." 21:40 <&Arthur> "Either way, we're going to gather as much intelligence as we can, pass through Neumann if possible and then head trailing to try and intercept any counter insurgency fleet coming this way so we can give them everything we have." 21:41 <&Arthur> "Actually. Has the fleet that dealt with the psions at Tobia gone back that way?" 21:42 <~abudhabi> Dogen: "They've probably been redeployed back to their native bases." 21:44 <&Arthur> "They came down from the Deneb area, right?" 21:45 -!- mode/#Traveller Vittorio Lucas by abudhabi 21:46 <@Vittorio> ((is listening, don't worry - just dont have much to add)) 21:47 <~abudhabi> "Gazulin and Vestus, mostly, AFAIK." 21:48 <~abudhabi> "There are actually quite many bases in the Reach." 21:48 <&Arthur> "Well crap." 21:48 <&Arthur> "Oh well. That is a later concern for now." 21:49 <@Vittorio> "So we're going to jump into Neumann, run though it with sensors active and make a run though to the other side hoping they can't catch us or are we sneaking in?" 21:50 <&Arthur> "I'm hoping to sneak in. Well. Fly in like we belong there." 21:50 <&Arthur> "We're not fit out for sneaking, especially since there's likely to be a big military presence there." 21:50 <@Vittorio> "what are the odds they have the system on lockdown?" 21:52 <&Arthur> "There's ten billion people on that world and it's heavily industrialised. They're going to need to keep the food going or they're going to be hitting rationing hard." 21:52 <@Vittorio> "So stock up on foodstuff to keep our cover up?" 21:55 <&Arthur> "Figure out something good to haul to Peridot." 22:01 * Vittorio will purchase lux consumables to sell on Crout 22:01 <@Vittorio> !2d6+2+6 : find a broker 22:01 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "find a broker": (4+4)+2+6. Total: 16. 22:02 <@Vittorio> "Ok, Luxuary consumables from here to Crout, from Crout on the way to Belt 9 we can sell some medical stuff then from belt 9 we pick up radioactives to sell on Neumann - sound good Arthur" 22:02 <@Vittorio> !3d6+4 : Purchase price for Lux Consumables 22:02 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Purchase price for Lux Consumables": (2+3+4)+4. Total: 13. 22:03 <&Arthur> "What's a good place to sell medical stuff? Belt 9?" 22:10 <@Vittorio> "So Crout to burtsan we sell pharmaceuticals, Burtson we pick up basic consumables and sell them at belt 9 then pick up radioactives" 22:12 <&Arthur> "Okay. That looks good to me." 22:13 <@Vittorio> !d6 : available tons of lux consumables 22:13 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "available tons of lux consumables": (4). Total: 4. 22:13 <&Arthur> "How soon can we get moving again?" 22:13 <~abudhabi> (It was 2 days for the refit.) 22:13 * Vittorio buys 4 tons of lux consumables at 85% base 22:13 <~abudhabi> (Primarily because everyone's busy fighting the NEC.) 22:16 <@Vittorio> !3d6+2+7 : Purchase textiles 22:16 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Purchase textiles": (5+3+3)+2+7. Total: 20. 22:16 <@Vittorio> !d6 : tons available 22:16 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "tons available": (3). Total: 3. 22:17 * Vittorio buys 3 tons for 40% textiles 22:18 <@Vittorio> !2d6+2+5 : Finding a second broker 22:18 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Finding a second broker": (2+5)+2+5. Total: 14. 22:18 <@Vittorio> !3d6+4 : Purchase lux consumables 22:18 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Purchase lux consumables": (1+4+4)+4. Total: 13. 22:19 <@Vittorio> !d6 tons available 22:19 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "d6 tons available": (6-6). Total: 0. 22:19 * Vittorio buys 3 tons of lux consumables at 85% base 22:20 * Vittorio gets back to arthur when purchasing and loading is done 22:20 <@Vittorio> "All sorted and ready to go" 22:20 <&Arthur> @Lucas, is engineering good to go?@ 22:21 * Vittorio takes us to the limit and ready to jump 22:21 <~abudhabi> Very well. Roll it! 22:21 <~abudhabi> I mean the jump. 22:22 <@Lucas> !2d6+2+1+2: A hop and a skip and a... 22:22 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "A hop and a skip and a...": (3+2)+2+1+2. Total: 10. 22:24 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6 22:24 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "2d6": (5+3). Total: 8. 22:26 <~abudhabi> Welcome to Persephone! Unary system, tainted atmosphere, hundreds of millions of people. A mid-range world. 22:26 <&Arthur> Fuel stop and go. 22:27 <~abudhabi> You have to wait in line. There's many ships here, waiting to get fuel. 22:28 <~abudhabi> They look mostly civilian. 22:28 * Arthur checks around. I guess there's a lot of refugees/ship fleeing the war? 22:28 <@Vittorio> "I guess we have to wait" 22:29 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Yes. 22:29 <&Arthur> "How long's this line?" 22:29 <~abudhabi> Arthur: You are #149. 22:31 <~abudhabi> Arthur: They service like 2 ships per hour, on average. 22:32 <@Vittorio> !149/2 22:32 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "149/2": 149/2. Total: 74.5. 22:32 <~abudhabi> Anyone want to roll me EduSensors? 22:32 <&Arthur> "This is too damned slow. Time to make some calls." 22:33 <&Arthur> !2d6+3: EduSensors 22:33 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "EduSensors": (4+1)+3. Total: 8. 22:33 <~abudhabi> Ships are arriving and leaving continuously. Some seem to be scooping water directly from the planet. 22:33 * Vittorio seeing this 22:33 <@Vittorio> "Yesss, let me do that" 22:34 <&Arthur> "Seventy two hours to refine for a jump three. Still too damned slow." 22:34 * Vittorio sighs 22:34 <@Vittorio> "fiiine, you're no fun - I'll put us in line then" 22:35 <&Arthur> "Don't. We're either refining our own or skipping the line." 22:36 * Arthur starts calling some people. 22:36 <~abudhabi> What people? 22:36 <@Vittorio> "i'll put us in line anyway so we dont waste a day trying to jump the line and end up having to line up anyway" 22:38 <&Arthur> Any Imperial navy/marine presence here I could pull strings with? 22:39 <&Arthur> In fact. Let's talk to traffic control. 22:39 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Roll Soc + Diplomat. 22:40 <&Arthur> I'm not a diplomat. I persuade people. 22:40 <~abudhabi> Then Soc + Persuade -2. 22:40 <&Arthur> !2d6: Straight on the dice then. 22:40 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "Straight on the dice then.": (3+6). Total: 9. 22:42 <~abudhabi> Arthur: You get jumped up the line just behind all the noblemen and megacorp VIPs. This pisses off the common merchanters and liners, which they express by rude messages to your inbox, but you are now #33. 22:44 * Arthur can deal with some rude messages if it gets us out of here in 20 hours instead of 75+ 22:44 <&Arthur> "Not as fast as running to the scouts I suppose, but this'll do." 22:45 <@Vittorio> "nicely done, will save us a lot of time 22:45 <@Vittorio> ((so we wait the 20 hours, pay for the fuel and then head out to the limit - how much do we have to bribe traffic control?)) 22:46 <~abudhabi> You don't have to bribe them. Arthur has already used his agentiness on them. 22:47 <@Vittorio> ((jump time then?)) 22:47 <~abudhabi> You wanna jump? 22:48 <&Arthur> We'd love to jump. 22:48 <@Lucas> !2d6+2+1+2: Jumpin' time 22:48 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "Jumpin' time": (2+2)+2+1+2. Total: 9. 22:49 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6+1 22:49 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "2d6+1": (5+5)+1. Total: 11. 22:49 <~abudhabi> So you're going to Crout... which planet? 22:50 <&Arthur> !d5: Main world, gas giants 1 through 4 22:50 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "Main world, gas giants 1 through 4": (2). Total: 2. 22:50 <&Arthur> Gas giant 1 22:50 <~abudhabi> Remember about your trainings. You've had quite a few weeks so far! 22:51 <&Arthur> 3 days to refine then we jump to Burtson 22:51 <@Vittorio> "We're stopping her to sell stuff, arn't we" 22:51 <&Arthur> Oh right. 22:51 <&Arthur> This is a selling stop. We'll hit the main world. 22:52 <@Vittorio> "I'll land us and we can buy unrefined and process that whilst I get stuff sold and purchased" 22:52 <&Arthur> "Yup." 22:52 * Vittorio lands the ship and looks for a broker 22:52 <@Vittorio> !2d6+2 : Find a broker 22:52 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Find a broker": (4+5)+2. Total: 11. 22:52 <~abudhabi> Wait up. 22:52 <~abudhabi> First, you arrive at the jump limit. Roll EduSensors. 22:53 <&Arthur> !2d6+3: EduSensors 22:53 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "EduSensors": (2+1)+3. Total: 6. 22:53 * Arthur is having a bad time with the sensors 22:53 <~abudhabi> Arthur detects nothing amiss. 22:53 <~abudhabi> Crout is a binary system with four gas giants, one belt, and four rocky worlds. 22:54 <~abudhabi> No starport of note, but the Imperium has planted a beacon. The locals are pre-Stellar. 22:55 <~abudhabi> Anyone else want to roll sensors? 22:55 <@Vittorio> ((nope, too busy with the cool flying stuff)) 22:55 <@Vittorio> !2d6-1 : Is unsafe 22:55 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Is unsafe": (3+3)-1. Total: 5. 22:56 <@Lucas> !2d6+1+2: Lucas is bored and looks at sensors 22:56 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "Lucas is bored and looks at sensors": (3+5)+1+2. Total: 11. 22:56 <~abudhabi> Alrighty. The place is sorta peaceful. Only one ship in orbit except you, some 200 dton boat. You proceed to land at the concrete landing spot with the beacon. 22:57 * Vittorio will go and find that broker then - unless the locals arn't welcoming when we land 22:57 <~abudhabi> Lucas: As you are descending through the very thin atmosphere, you flip through the channels over in engineering. The outer sensors feed catches your eye. 22:59 <@Lucas> "Oh. Huh." 22:59 <@Lucas> @Captain.@ 22:59 <&Arthur> @Go ahead.@ 23:00 <@Lucas> @I was just flipping through the sensors a bit and noticed that other ship on the system.@ 23:01 <@Lucas> @Could you doublecheck those transponder codes? It seems to identify as 'N.E.C.' for me@ 23:01 <&Arthur> @Wait, what?@ 23:01 * Arthur checks the ship's transponder. 23:01 <@Lucas> @But it *looks* imperial.@ 23:02 <&Arthur> @It is an Imperial design.@ 23:02 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Now that you check it, it does indicate not imperial, but N.E.C. flag. The transponder signature looks almost designed to fool a casual, human observation. 23:03 <@Vittorio> "Coming in to land, Instructions?" 23:03 <&Arthur> @Well crap on a stick.@ 23:04 <&Arthur> @Lucas, did you see how that thing's armed? Because I feel like taking some prisoners.@ 23:04 <~abudhabi> Lucas: It does appear to have at least one turret. 23:05 <~abudhabi> You didn't exactly do an active scan or look at it from multiple directions. 23:05 <@Lucas> @I see at least on turret. I didn't exaclty do an in-depth scan.@ 23:05 <@Lucas> *one 23:06 <&Arthur> "We've having a bad day." 23:06 <@Vittorio> "You can say that again..." 23:06 <&Arthur> "Scoop fuel and take us back up." 23:07 <&Arthur> @Lucas, get the AI ready for some offensive action.@ 23:07 <@Vittorio> "ah well, no easy sale for us then" 23:07 * Lucas 'readies the AI for offensive action', whatever that entails 23:08 * Vittorio will see if we can scoop any fuel and then take the ship back up 23:09 <~abudhabi> Vittorio: Roll me Edu+Sensors. 23:09 <@Vittorio> !2d6-1 : Edu sensors 23:09 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Edu sensors": (2+4)-1. Total: 5. 23:10 <~abudhabi> Vittorio: You pick a secluded spot and scoop up fuel on the double. 23:10 <@Vittorio> "loaded, taking her up, what sort of approach do you want?" 23:10 * Arthur starts getting sensor readings on that ship. How far in is it? 23:11 <@Vittorio> ((Can I roll naval tactics to plot the best path to try and surprise them? 23:11 <&Arthur> !2d6+3: EduSensors better 23:11 <+PainBot> Arthur rolled "EduSensors better": (6+3)+3. Total: 12. 23:11 <~abudhabi> Vittorio: You may try. 23:12 <@Vittorio> !2d6+3 : Int Naval Tactics 23:12 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Int Naval Tactics": (3+5)+3. Total: 11. 23:13 <~abudhabi> Arthur: While Vittorio is refuelling, you carefully scan the surface. There seems to be a land war going on down there. Cities are burning. You think you see a nuke go off on the horizon. 23:13 <~abudhabi> !roll 2d6+4 23:13 <+PainBot> abudhabi rolled "2d6+4": (2+5)+4. Total: 11. 23:13 <&Arthur> "Ground war going on down here. That means troops." 23:14 <&Arthur> "Which means there's either grounded ships or they're hijacking people." 23:14 <&Arthur> "Oh. And that was a nuke. They're fighting no holds barred." 23:14 <@Vittorio> "whats the 200 d tonner then - c&c?" 23:14 <&Arthur> "Scout?" 23:14 <&Arthur> "If they're hijacking people, it might be all they need." 23:14 <@Vittorio> "any sign of ships on the surface?" 23:15 <~abudhabi> Vittorio: You determine that the likeliest approach would be to pretend you're leaving immediately, and attack at the closest point. 23:15 <&Arthur> "Not that I've seen, but a few ships are easy to hide on a planet this big." 23:15 <@Vittorio> "want us to take her then?" 23:16 <&Arthur> "Yup. Hack, then shoot. If we can take her intact it'll be all the better." 23:16 <&Arthur> @Dogen, we got trouble. You know how to man a turret?@ 23:17 <~abudhabi> @Sure. What's up?@ 23:17 <&Arthur> @NEC in system. We see a two hundred dton boat up in orbit, no signs of other vessels.@ 23:18 <&Arthur> @We're going to try to jack it. Blow it outta the sky if we can't.@ 23:18 <~abudhabi> @Gotcha. Hope you know what you're doing.@ 23:18 <~abudhabi> Dogen picks a turret. 23:19 <&Arthur> @I just hope our marine remembers the difference between disable and destroy this time.@ 23:19 <@Vittorio> "This is the best approach" gesturing to the plotted course on the pilots screen 23:19 <&Arthur> "Gives us a good headstart to get out if it gets too hot as well. Do it." 23:19 <@Vittorio> "Well act like we're making a least time exit out and hit them at the closest point" 23:20 * Vittorio executes the manouver 23:20 <~abudhabi> Roll DexPilot. You're giving the order for the AI to hack the other ship? Are you hooking up the AI to the communication systems first? 23:20 <&Arthur> "We'll start the hack a few minutes out from closest approach. If they respond in any way, we start blasting." 23:20 <@Lucas> "AI, we're planning a takeover of that other ship in orbit." 23:21 <@Vittorio> !2d6+5 : Piloting 23:21 <+PainBot> Vittorio rolled "Piloting": (1+2)+5. Total: 8. 23:21 <~abudhabi> Lucas: @Acknowledged.@ 23:21 <@Lucas> "There is a possibility it has it's own AI systems, so be prepared for both offense and defense." 23:21 <~abudhabi> Lucas: @Acknowledged.@ 23:22 * Lucas connects the AI to comms in preparation for the attack 23:22 <~abudhabi> OK. 23:22 <&Arthur> @Our primary objective here is to disable that ship, nothing else matters. If we can take it with us, bonus points, but prisoners and the data from their computer core are what matter most.@ 23:23 <@Lucas> @AI ready@ 23:24 <@Vittorio> @Pilot ready@ 23:25 <~abudhabi> You reach the closest point. The order is given, and the AI begins communication. Incomming transmission! Anyone want to roll Edu + Comms? 23:26 <@Lucas> !2d6+1: EduComms 23:26 <+PainBot> Lucas rolled "EduComms": (6+3)+1. Total: 10. 23:28 <~abudhabi> Lucas: It's a video transmission, standard imperial encoding. Accept? Reject? Main screen turn on? 23:28 <@Lucas> @Incoming vidcomm.@ 23:28 <&Arthur> @Put it up.@ 23:29 <@Lucas> Main screen turn on 23:32 <~abudhabi> The holoscreen on the bridge lights up. It depicts a swarthy gentleman with obvious cybernetic facial modifications. @Attention imperial starship. This is the NEC marketing ship 'Maturity Swap'. You are invited to join the Neumann Economic Collective in a peaceful manner. Rejection of this offer is of questionable economic utility.@ 23:34 <&Arthur> @Maturity Swap, this is captain Arthur Bowen of the imperial free trader Hawking. Elaborate on your invitation?@ 23:35 <@Lucas> "AI, is there anything to this transmission other than picture and sound?" 23:38 <~abudhabi> @Upon joining the NEC, you and your crew will be brought up to the status of full partner, including all benefits and responsibilities thereof. Following this merger, your life satisfaction, wealth and chosen genital size are expected to increase by up to 250%. Don't delay. Act now.@ 23:38 <~abudhabi> Lucas: @Negative. Attempts at subordination currently unsuccessful.@ 23:39 <@Vittorio> @How does one join the NEC?@ 23:41 <~abudhabi> @I'm glad you asked. We will send you a nanorobotic package designed for smooth integration with both starboard and organic systems. You simply let it do its magic! Couldn't be simpler. And the best part: It's free!@ 23:41 * Vittorio looks at arthur and is clearly very worried 23:42 <&Arthur> @Do you know anything about the fighting down on the world?@ 23:42 * Arthur mutes the mic 23:43 <&Arthur> "Lucas, have the AI try Arthur Steinmann's old command codes." 23:44 <~abudhabi> @The inhabitants of Crout have unwisely chosen to reject our initial offer. As a consequence, they have been struck by severe misfortune, which could have been avoided had they only repeated our counter-offer to 10 of their friends.@ 23:44 <@Lucas> "AI, try using Arthur Steinmanns old command codes in your subversion attempts." 23:45 <~abudhabi> @Affirmative... Codes rejected.@ 23:46 <@Lucas> @The codes are being rejected@ 23:46 <&Arthur> "Well shit. No luck there then." 23:47 <&Arthur> "Vittorio, if we cut thrust now, can they reach us before we hit the hundred diameter limit?" 23:47 <~abudhabi> Vittorio: That depends on their thrust. If they are as fast as you, yes. 23:47 <&Arthur> (What ship does it seem to be?) 23:47 <~abudhabi> (If you mean closing distance by a range band.) 23:48 <~abudhabi> Arthur: Same type as yours. Could very well be a different subtype.. 23:48 <&Arthur> "They're probably a free trader, thrust one or two." 23:49 * Arthur unmutes the mic 23:49 <@Vittorio> "Unless its been increased by up to 250%" 23:49 <&Arthur> @Maturity Swap, it would be unprofitable at this point to reverse thrust for a meet up. Can you follow us up to the hundred diameter limit to meet there?@ 23:50 <~abudhabi> @Your implicit acceptance of our offer is noted! No need to worry, we are sending the packets right now.@ 23:50 <~abudhabi> They launch missiles. 23:50 <~abudhabi> We'll finish this next time! 23:51 <@Lucas> Evil!